Pinkston v. Madry
| Decision Date | 14 March 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 03-2973.,03-2973. |
| Parties | James E. PINKSTON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Anthony MADRY and Janiene Grisselle, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Tara E. Thompson (argued), Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
George P. Sherman (argued), Office of the Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, for Defendants-Appellees.
Before COFFEY, RIPPLE and MANION, Circuit Judges.
On May 3, 2000, James Pinkston filed a complaint in federal court pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging that two correctional officers at the Indiana Department of Corrections Maximum Control Complex in Westville, Indiana, violated his Eighth Amendment rights when they allowed another prisoner to assault him and thereafter refused to assist him in receiving adequate medical care. While discovery was underway, the district court assigned a magistrate judge to dispense with all non-dispositive matters and to file proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B). The magistrate judge subsequently convened an evidentiary hearing and, after performing a de novo review of the evidentiary hearing transcript and the magistrate judge's recommendations, the district court adopted the magistrate judge's decision granting the defendants-appellees motion for "Judgment on Partial Findings" under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 52(c). We affirm.
At all times relevant to this appeal Pinkston was confined at the Indiana Department of Corrections Maximum Control Complex ("MCC") in Westville, Indiana, a maximum security prison operated as an institution to confine the most aggressive criminals in the Indiana prison system.1 While incarcerated at the facility, Pinkston had a number of acrimonious and brutal run-ins with corrections officers as well as fellow inmates.2
Sometime in September of 1999, Pinkston commenced to harbor animosity towards Corrections Officer Anthony Madry. On or about September 16, 1999, Pinkston allegedly witnessed Madry returning a pair of sweatpants that he had laundered for another inmate, Dana Smith. Feeling left out, Pinkston asked Madry to wash his sweats as well, but that request was summarily denied.
On the morning of September 17, 1999, with tensions somewhat charged from the events of the previous day, Smith and Pinkston began trading insults back and forth from their adjacent cells. In hopes of avoiding the possibility of being alone with Smith, Pinkston chose to go to the showers that afternoon instead of going to recreation. Officer Madry was assigned to accompany Pinkston to the shower facility and, according to Pinkston, while Madry was shackling him for transport he (Madry) intentionally left his handcuffs "loose." Then, during the walk to the showers, Pinkston claims that Madry encouraged him to "slip his cuffs" as a sign of aggression so that Madry would be justified in engaging in an altercation with him. Pinkston refused to do so and, after showering, requested that two different officers escort him back to his cell. The guards eventually acquiesced, and Pinkston was returned to his cell without incident.
The events of September 19, 1999, however, are the impetus of this lawsuit. Pinkston claims that, after he showered, Madry began yelling at him, telling him that he was going to "whoop him." Another officer, Officer Chapman, allegedly joined Pinkston and Madry in the shower area with baton in hand, and Pinkston claims that he became frightened that the officers might "jump" him. However, nothing happened and he was led back to his cell without incident.
What happened next is the subject of dispute. Pinkston claims that later that day (September 19th) he was again approached by Madry, this time while he was locked in his cell. Madry allegedly spoke to Pinkston, with Smith in earshot, intimating that he was going to unlock the doors of the two inmates cells so that Smith and Pinkston could fight it out. At some point in the next few minutes, Madry walked away and the doors to Smith and Pinkston's cells opened. With other inmates watching, the two allegedly engaged in fisticuffs, with Pinkston receiving a punch to the face from Smith, injuring his lip and drawing blood.
According to Pinkston, while the fight was going on Madry and another officer, Officer Janiene Grisselle, observed the melee from the control room and, as a result, Madry immediately went down to investigate.3 As Madry approached, the tussle ceased and Pinkston returned to his cell. Madry located a mop and cleaned up the blood on the floor. While he was doing this, Pinkston requested that he be allowed to see the nurse. Madry allegedly responded flippantly4 and returned to the control room when he was finished cleaning up. After Madry returned to the control room, Grisselle walked down to Pinkston's cell and assessed his wounds. Grisselle then secured some Band-Aids, tape, and ice from the nurse's station, returned to Pinkston's cell and proceeded to treat his lip with a bandage and an alcohol pad while attempting to calm him down. The nurse was not called at that time, but Grisselle did return later to re-dress Pinkston's lip.
Approximately four days later, on September 23, 1999, Pinkston submitted a formal medical request as well as a form requesting a conference with a counselor. The following day, Pinkston was interviewed by Rosanne Downey-Zinkan a behavioral clinician, who discussed the incident with Pinkston and observed that he had an "injury to [his] lip, puffy, and injury about [his] eye; both on the left side [of his face]."5 The clinician suggested that Pinkston seek medical help, if he felt that was necessary, and advised him that he might want to file a grievance, if he was so inclined. Pinkston followed this advice and, on September 24, 1999, filed a grievance with the prison's administration, which was denied as untimely.6
On September 29, 1999, Pinkston was again examined, this time by a nurse who described him in her report as being "very uncooperative" and noted that, at that time, she observed no "redness, swelling or discharge" on the left side of his face. She went on to note that, when Pinkston was "asked how [the] injury occurred and where other injuries are located [he] stood up and left the room," without answering. Two days later, Pinkston submitted a second written medical request. Upon receipt, the nurse on duty requested that an x-ray of Pinkston's facial area be performed in order to rule out a broken jaw. The prison's doctor agreed with the recommendation and ordered an x-ray, scheduling it for October 6, 1999. However, Pinkston refused the x-ray procedure in writing when he submitted a third health care request form on October 5, 1999, in which he wrote that he didn't "need an x-ray" because he didn't "have a fracture[d] jaw."7 Instead, Pinkston averred that he "just wanted to be seen under confidentiality, and have it noted [sic] about the injuries [he] received from the assault." On October 8, 1999, Pinkston filed a fourth medical request form complaining that his "jaw [was] still swollen." That request was granted and the doctor agreed to see Pinkston on October 14, 1999, but apparently Pinkston once again refused medical attention, for in his file it is noted that he "refused to be seen by the M.D."8
On October 20, 1999, Pinkston wrote the superintendent of the prison alleging that Officers Madry and Grisselle allowed another inmate to assault him and requested that his complaint be investigated. On November 21, 1999, a formal investigation was launched by Investigator Surney of the Indiana Department of Corrections. Surney later submitted a report, concluding that "[d]ue to lack of evidence and [Pinkston's] unwillingness to cooperate with the medical staff, this writer finds the incident to be unfounded and without merit."
Not happy with the outcome of the Department of Correction's investigation, Pinkston filed suit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana on February 9, 2000. In his pro se complaint Pinkston asserted that Officers Madry and Grisselle had violated his Eighth Amendment rights on September 19, 1999, when they: (1) failed to protect him from inmate Smith who attacked him and; (2) failed to provide him with adequate medical care following the incident. Following discovery and an unsuccessful motion by the defendants for summary judgment, the case was referred to a magistrate judge on August 6, 2002, for disposition of all dispositive and non-dispositive matters. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B).
The assigned magistrate judge, Judge Nuechterlein, ordered an evidentiary hearing. At the hearing, on April 30-May 1, 1999, Pinkston presented a number of witnesses, including a fellow inmate, John Meriweather, and four prison employees, Officers Jeffery Caldwell and Michael Walker, Nurse Michelle Conrad, and behavioral clinician Rosanne Downey-Zinkan. Of these witnesses, Meriweather was the only person that claimed to have actually witnessed the attack. While he could not be "specific on the date" of the fight and acknowledged that he did not actually "see the incident" due to the position of his cell, Meriweather testified that from his cell he "could hear somebody . . . fighting" in the vicinity of Pinkston's cell on or about the 19th of September, 1999.
After presenting his witnesses, Pinkston also testified on his own behalf in a narrative, during which Judge Nuechterlein felt it was necessary to ask a number of questions in an attempt to clarify portions of his testimony. Specifically, Pinkston testified that, around 7:00 pm on September 19, 1999, Officer Madry was the only officer left on the cell block after a shift change had occurred. Pinkston stated that, shortly thereafter, he had a brief conversation with inmate Smith and then...
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